Patrick Poivre d’Arvor was the star of the French media. Now numerous women accuse him of molestation, sexual assault and rape. A Swiss woman is also one of the plaintiffs.
The ugly episodes of his long career have not been able to harm the moderator: Patrick Poivre d’Arvor in a recording from 1983.
Is he a groper? Or even a rapist? Patrick Poivre d’Arvor, probably the best-known television presenter in France, sees himself very differently: as a man who loves women. “I belong to a generation where seduction, the game of seduction, is important,” he once said in an interview. But what the 74-year-old means by this “game” must currently be clarified by lawyers and courts. Because since February 2021, Poivre d’Arvor has been faced with complaints from women who accuse him of harassment, assault and, in eight cases, even rape.
The left-wing newspaper “Mediapart” recently published an almost three-hour video in which twenty women testify against the moderator, mostly not anonymously, but directly in front of the camera. They are writers, former employees, interns or chance acquaintances who recognized the prominent journalist on the train and wanted to chat with him. “He no longer scares us,” says one of the witnesses.
Condemned and courted
In fact, PPDA, as Patrick Poivre d’Arvor is known in France for short, was considered untouchable. He made a career in television from the mid-1970s. As moderator of the news program “Journal de 20 heures” on TF 1, he had an audience of millions. He wrote romantic novels, appeared in numerous films, mostly playing himself, was parodied and almost better known as a parody than in the original version. The tabloid press courted him, the powerful showered him with medals and honorary titles: Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, Unicef Ambassador, Compagnon du Beaujolais, Breton of the Year, to name but a few.
There have been a few bad spots in PPDA’s career, but so far these have hardly damaged his reputation. In 1992, for example, it turns out that the television journalist edited an allegedly exclusive interview with Fidel Castro from a press conference. One of Saddam Hussein’s bodyguards, whom Poivre d’Arvor interviewed during the first Iraq war, was later exposed as an impostor. In 1996, the presenter was sentenced to 15 months in prison for embezzling business assets, but he did not have to serve it.
Even when PPDA was fired as TF 1 news anchor in 2008 – after asking the not-so-tall President Nicolas Sarkozy if he felt like an excited “little boy” at his first G-8 summit – he stayed on Present on radio and television, welcome among the rich and powerful. For the women who are now testifying against him, he is still the man “who has all the important phone numbers” – and who for years has benefited from a culture of mockery, abuse of power and looking the other way.
“Everyone knew”
That this culture exists in circles of power can hardly be denied. For example, socialist politician and political scientist Olivier Duhamel had to admit last year that he had abused his own stepson. Writer Gabriel Matzneff has long been a darling of the media and Parisian cultural circles, despite publicly justifying pedophilia. Sometimes the allegations turn out to be exaggerated, or they are difficult to prove legally. The Poivre d’Arvor case relates to incidents that are said to have taken place since the 1980s, the youngest plaintiff is 28, the oldest 63.
A first class action lawsuit from 2021 had no consequences due to the statute of limitations and lack of evidence, and the star moderator vehemently denies the allegations. He defends himself with counterclaims and sweeping attacks against feminists and the #MeToo movement, who indulged in a new Puritanism. Everything he ever did was done in good faith. Among other things, PPDA relies on letters from four plaintiffs who made no accusations against him after alleged assaults.
On the other hand, if you believe today’s testimonies, the star moderator always followed a similar pattern: first he gave the charming and fatherly patron who flattered women with his attention. He then demanded sexual favors, sometimes with threats that resistance wasn’t exactly career-promoting. The attacks are said to have often taken place in Poivre d’Arvor’s office at TF 1, mostly in the evenings but sometimes during the day.
A witness tells in the video from “Mediapart” that she applied for a stage when she was 24 and PPDA told her that he could help her. At a meeting in the office, he exposed himself and said he only wanted “une petite gâterie”. When she refused this request for oral sex, he said: “In this case, Madame, au revoir.”
Other witnesses show emails in which PPDA complains that its “tender gestures” have been misinterpreted. The Swiss author Anouk Ortlieb reports that the presenter invited her to a literary program in 2003, but only massaged his private parts when he spoke to her. More serious is that Poivre d’Avor is said to have sexually assaulted an underage woman and an anorexic woman. D’Arvor’s own daughter was anorexic and committed suicide, he himself has processed her fate in literature – which is why anorexics sought his help.
Three lawsuits are currently pending against the French TV star. A former manager of TF 1 was shocked by the accusations made by the witnesses to the newspaper “Mediapart”. He classified them as credible, but emphasized that nobody knew about it. PPDA is an individual case, not a product of a system. With the women in the “Mediapart” studio, these statements triggered satisfaction, but also contradiction. One of them said that she was explicitly warned in TF 1 against wearing conspicuous make-up or short dresses. Her conclusion: “Everyone knew it.” PPDA itself did not want to participate in the broadcast of «Mediapart». The presumption of innocence applies to him.